


The Mermaid in the Armchair

by StormySeaWitch



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Disney References, Keith is a mermaid, Lance is a bad idea bear, M/M, Mentions of Blood/Injury, Romance is v minimal, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 15:52:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15489342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StormySeaWitch/pseuds/StormySeaWitch
Summary: One day, while out on the reef, a sarcastic mermaid with an injury flops into Lance's boat.





	The Mermaid in the Armchair

**The Mermaid** **  
** _ Potential Zine; Blue Paladin Theme [Home} _

 

Summer was over, and the tourists were leaving. 

 

Not that it ever stopped being sunny, no, it just happened to be sunny with torrential rain that drove tourists away and made Lance’s tiny business moot. His little glass-bottomed boat was the smallest in the marina. She couldn’t carry as many passengers, but she could maneuver her way through the trickier parts of the reef without crashing into anything. He would take tourists out onto the reef, where they could see the beauty of the coral and the unique marine life through the glass. 

 

His tours were intimate and fun and he was able to use his vast amount of knowledge to wow his customers, as well as stressing the importance of looking after such a fragile ecosystem. And being out on the water every day, he had a great deal of respect for the creatures that lived under the waves. 

 

Lance hadn’t taken anyone out on the boat that day, but he had decided to spend some time on the reef, just enjoying the gentle rocking of the waves. He had expected to see the sharks. He had expected to see Nyma in her big flashy boat taking divers out to another part of the reef. He had even expected to have a little snooze on the seats, his hand on the glass and as close to the water as he could get it without getting wet. 

 

He wasn’t expecting a mermaid. 

 

It had woken him up, actually, when it launched itself out of the water and hoisted its elbows over the edge. It was male, with long-ish dark hair and wild, dark eyes. His fingertips were clawed, and he was glaring at Lance something fierce. 

 

‘Don’t just stare,’ he chastised. ‘Help me!’

 

Lance grabbed him by the arms and used all of his energy to lift the mermaid into the boat. He immediately noticed a nasty looking gash in the thick red tail, oozing blood onto the glass bottom of the boat. Whatever had sliced him open had cut through blubber and muscle, as well as torn through the beautiful red scales. 

 

‘What happened?’ Lance asked, immediately reaching for his first aid kit. 

 

‘One of your human machines saw me, and when I hid in the coral it swam over the top of me and it’s claws have ruined my tail,’ the mermaid moaned, leaning forward to examine the injury. ‘Stupid sharks were hovering so I had to climb up here.’

 

Lance swatted his hands away in a daze and began to mop up blood with a cloth. The mermaid made a strangled hissing noise and tried to back away from him.

 

‘What are you doing? That hurts!’ he snarled, and Lance huffed, frowning. 

 

‘If I don’t stop the bleeding, you’ll just die here in the boat. It looks like you’ve been caught in a propeller, but I can’t help if you keep wiggling around,’ he replied. ‘You need to lift the rest of your tail up here to slow the bleeding.’

 

The mermaid glared at him, but did as he said. He struggled a little to lift the massive fluke up on the seats, and he flinched and gasped and made all sorts of noises as Lance cleaned the wound and applied pressure. 

 

‘I’m Lance, by the way,’ he said quietly, and the mermaid raised an eyebrow. 

 

‘I’m Keith.’ 

 

‘...Keith?’ Lance snickered, and Keith’s scowl returned. 

 

‘What’s wrong with my name?’ he challenged, sitting up on his elbows. 

 

‘Well it’s not very exotic. It’s the most human name ever,’ Lance grinned. Keith didn’t reply, only curled his tail fins and turned his head to look around the boat. 

 

‘Okay, do me a favour and hold this on really tight, okay?’ Lance said after a brief moment of silence. He showed Keith where to hold the bloody cloth and then wiped his hands on his jacket. He managed to open his phone and called the top number in his favourites list. 

 

‘ _ Yeeello? _ ’ said the voice on the other end of the receiver. 

 

‘Hey babe, are you busy?’ Lance asked, raising an eyebrow at Keith who was looking at him like he was insane. 

 

‘ _ No, I’m back at home, why? _ ’ 

 

‘Have I got a story for you,’ Lance said with a grin. 

 

By the time the boat got back to the marina, it was dark. Night time tours weren’t anything unusual, but since the tourist season was winding down they were less common. 

 

‘Why can’t I just go back in the water?’ Keith grumbled, leaning back against the seat. He was a little delirious from blood loss, and Lance had been enjoying the mer-creature’s ramblings. ‘M’fine, I can swim.’

 

‘Keith, just shut up for a sec, won’t you?’ Lance whispered, pulling the boat up to the dock. 

 

Hunk was waiting for him, wrapped in a thick jacket with a bag slung over one shoulder. 

 

‘Dude, you are covered in blood,’ Hunk told him. ‘You’ll have to throw this stuff in the bin, it’s never gonna wash out.’

 

‘Not important, look at this,’ Lance replied, gesturing at the grumpy mermaid in the boat. Hunk’s jaw dropped and he reached out to grab Lance’s coat sleeve. 

 

‘Where did you find  _ that _ ?’ he asked, and Keith snorted. 

 

‘ _ That _ has a name, and it’s Keith,’ he replied. 

 

‘Keith?’ Hunk repeated. ‘Seriously?’ 

 

He leaned down to examine the cut in Keith’s tail. ‘Lance he’s gonna need stitches,’ Hunk said quietly. ‘He’s lost a lot of blood.’ 

 

‘What’s stitches?’ Keith asked, and Lance crossed his arms. 

 

‘Well we can’t just leave him to die, and we can’t take him to a vet or an aquarium or a doctor, they’ll just chuck him in a tank.’ 

 

‘What, you want to take him home and keep him in the bath?’ Hunk snorted. 

 

Lance gave him a look that made his stomach drop. ‘It’s not the  _ worst _ idea…’

 

‘It is  _ the _ worst idea,’ Hunk countered. 

 

‘Oh come on, we can chuck him in the back of the truck, the elevator doesn’t have cameras or anything and it’s not like we actually  _ use  _ our bath,’ Lance pleaded, grabbing Hunk by the arm. ‘We can’t just leave him to die.’

 

‘I can look after myself,’ Keith protested weakly, but Lance cut him off with a quick shush. 

 

‘Keith please, mummy and daddy are talking,’ he said. 

 

‘You want us to carry a mermaid to our truck, drive it home, carry it up to the top floor in a public elevator, chuck it in the bathtub and keep it there until its tail is fully healed-’

 

‘Well when you put it like that…’

 

‘No, I’m not finished… because then we also have to sneak the now healed mermaid back down the elevator, into the truck, back here to the marina and then to wherever the pod lives,’ Hunk finished. 

 

Lance nodded with a happy smile, and Hunk felt his heart melt a little. He was never very good at denying Lance anything. 

 

As such, Hunk wound up in his car alone with a half dead, delirious mythical creature, and it was bleeding all over his seats.

 

‘Huuuunk,’ Keith moaned. ‘I don’t like this land machine.’

 

‘It’s called a car, and it’s perfectly safe,’ Hunk reassured him. Lance had stayed behind because he had a boat that was suspiciously full of blood, leaving Hunk to get Keith up the elevator and into the apartment on his own. It was dark outside, luckily, and Hunk was strong. He pulled up into his usual car park, and made sure the wound on Keith’s tail was wrapped tight. 

 

‘Where are we?’ Keith asked, eyes darting around at the underground carpark. 

 

‘We’re in the building where Lance and I live, but we need to get you up to the top floor and that jerk just left me to do it by myself,’ Hunk grumbled. Keith didn’t protest as Hunk carried him quickly, bridal-style, towards the elevator. 

 

The mermaid dug his nails in as the doors closed, and Hunk took a deep breath. They could do it. There were 15 floors until they were on the right level. 14 to go. 

 

13 to go. 

 

12… 11… 10… oh no. 

 

The elevator slowed to a stop, and Hunk held his breath. Keith held even tighter to his shirt. 

 

‘Oh… uh, hey Hunk.’

 

‘Hi Allura,’ Hunk replied with a forced smile. 

 

She was wearing her favourite pink jumper with the planets on the front, her hair bundled up in a bun secured with a pencil. The three of them stared at each other for a moment before the doors started to close, and it seemed to startle her into jumping into the elevator. 

 

‘So uh, who’s your friend?’ she asked, and Keith gave a little wave. 

 

‘This is Keith… he’s… a mermaid… that Lance found?’ He offered Allura another pained grin. 

 

‘And he’s bleeding… in our elevator,’ Allura pointed out. Hunk just nodded in reply. 

 

The elevator shuddered as they made their way up to Hunk and Lance’s floor, and it stopped with a ‘ding’. 

 

‘Hey… can you not mention this to anyone?’ Hunk asked, and Allura gave him a smile. 

 

‘Sure… does Lance know you’re bringing pets home?’

 

‘I’m not a pet,’ Keith grumbled. ‘And I was all for just jumping back in the water.’

 

‘This is Lance’s idea! I’ve just been swindled into doing the hard work!’ Hunk moaned, and Allura helped him open his apartment door. 

 

‘You get him patched up, and I’ll put the kettle on. You can explain everything then, yes?’ she offered, making her way towards the kitchen. Hunk put Keith in the bathtub, and filled it with warm water. The mermaid curled his tail fin as he sank into the warm water, turning it red as he oozed blood. 

 

‘Okay Keith, this is gonna hurt, okay?’ Hunk warned him, and Keith gave a quick nod. 

 

Allura nearly dropped Lance’s favourite mug as the mermaid screeched. 

 

‘Ever since I got this stupid cut all you humans have been doing is hurting me,’ Keith hissed. 

 

‘I told you it was going to hurt. I need to stitch this thing up, and you need to sit still and suck it up, or else you’re just gonna die when you go back to the ocean,’ Hunk replied in his work voice. Keith slumped back and crossed his arms. 

 

Allura leaned against the doorframe, and watched as Hunk attempted to sew the struggling mermaid back together. She grabbed a chair from their kitchen and placed it right by Keith’s head in the bathroom. 

 

‘Hi,’ she said with a smile. He winced a little, but was happy to let Allura distract him. 

 

‘Hello,’ he replied, leaning on the edge of the tub, his hands balled into fists against the pain. 

 

‘Would you like to hold my hand?’ she offered. He stared at it like it might bite him. 

 

‘Why?’ he asked with a frown. 

 

‘It’s what people do when they need support, I guess? You don’t have to, but it might help,’ Allura told him. Keith’s tail fluke curled a little in curiosity. His scales shone under the artificial light, a brilliant dazzling red. Hunk had nearly finished stitching up the cut, but the scales didn’t marry up. It would be an ugly scar. 

 

Keith yelped as Hunk pinched at the skin and he reached out to grab Allura’s hand. 

 

‘Oh wow, you’re so warm,’ he commented, momentarily distracted. He turned her hand this way and that, examining it from every angle. 

 

Hunk finished the stitching and sat back with a heavy breath. 

 

‘Now look, you can’t get these wet,’ he instructed. ‘We’re gonna have to bandage it up so you don’t scratch the stitches out…’

 

Keith moaned dramatically. The sound of the door opening made them all jump, and Lance came running into the bathroom. 

 

‘Guess who got  _ all the blood off the bottom of the  _ **_holy shit hey Allura_ ** !’ 

 

‘Hey Lance,’ Allura replied with a cheeky smile, leaning on his bathroom counter. ‘You know this building has a very strict no pets rule, right?’

 

‘I am not a pet,’ Keith repeated with a grumble, and Hunk snorted. 

 

‘What’re you doing up here?’ Lance asked, stripping out of his slightly bloody jacket and chucking it into the laundry hamper. 

 

‘Did you really think Hunk would be able to sneak a live mermaid into the building without running into anyone?’ she asked, and he gave a shrug. 

 

‘I’m honestly amazed he only ran into one person,’ Lance grinned at his boyfriend, who was scowling. 

 

‘Well, he’s all patched up now,’ Hunk said, redirecting the conversation. ‘Only thing is that he can’t get those stitches too wet, so we might need to move him to the lounge, and he can sort of… sponge his scales to keep them from drying out?’

 

‘That might work… how’re you feeling Keith?’ Lance asked, and the mermaid turned to look at him. 

 

‘I would have been fine in the ocean. Now I have an itchy tail and I can’t swim,’ he moaned. 

 

‘Come on, we’ll move you to the armchair and you can have some food and have a nap or something,’ Lance suggested. 

 

It took all three of them to lift Keith from the bath and into the lounge room. Hunk carried him under the arms, Allura took the tail fluke and Lance held his middle, under very strict instructions not to jostle the injury too much. The last thing they wanted was for the stitches to reopen. 

 

Keith was given the prime spot in the reclining armchair, and he seemed happy enough to settle there. 

 

‘It’s so soft,’ he cooed, wiggling himself lower into the chair with his massive tail draping over the end. 

 

While Keith made himself comfortable, Allura left with a cheery ‘buh-bye’ and Hunk began rifling through the bags that Lance had bought in with him. 

 

‘What are these?’ he asked, holding up a box. 

 

‘What? I don’t know what mermaids eat,’ Lance said with a shrug, leaning across him to snatch up a chocolate bar. 

 

‘I can guarantee you it’s not fish fingers, Lance,’ Hunk sighed, chucking the box at him lightly. Lance caught it with a slight fumble, and stuffed it in the freezer with a grin. 

 

It turned out that Keith actually really liked the fish fingers, once he got past the idea that they were hot and he had to let them cool down. 

 

He sat on his squishy armchair munching on his dinner with a happy little smile, his fin curling and uncurling. Lance bustled around finding blankets and pillows for Keith so he wouldn’t get cold, and Hunk tried desperately to stop the mermaid from wriggling around and opening his stitches. 

 

Once Keith was comfortable, and he understood the idea that he wasn’t supposed to move his tail, they turned the lights off and headed for bed. 

 

Lance snuggled in close and Hunk kissed him lightly on the head. 

 

‘How do you get us into these situations?’ he asked with a yawn, and he felt Lance grin. 

 

‘Talent.’

 

#

 

Hunk had to be up at five for his shift in the ER, and as such he had completely forgotten about the mermaid on the armchair in the lounge room. 

 

‘What is that awful noise?’ Keith asked with a yawn, and Hunk spun around with a loud shriek. 

 

‘ _ Keith _ !’ he breathed, leaning on the counter. ‘I completely forgot about you, crap. I’m sorry… how are you feeling?’

 

‘I was fine until your machine started screaming,’ Keith replied, not unhappily. He was peeking over the back of the chair, his eyes catching the light and glowing like a cat. 

 

‘It’s the coffee machine, sorry. It’ll stop in a second,’ Hunk explained, moving to the lounge to check on Keith’s stitches. ‘Well you haven’t pulled any out which is good.’

 

‘It’s hard to move, my tail feels heavy,’ Keith said, leaning back. 

 

‘Do you want me to put the tv on, or are you gonna go back to sleep?’ Hunk asked, fishing around in the gaps between the couch cushions for the remote. 

 

Keith sat up eagerly. ‘What’s tv?’

 

‘It’s this big black box, it’ll play shows and movies for you,’ Hunk explained. ‘Here, press this button to change the channel.’

 

When Hunk left, Keith was watching the early morning aerobics in complete fascination, the remote clasped in his hands tightly. 

 

Lance got up a few hours later and greeted Keith with a lazy yawn and a wave. 

 

‘Lance, what are they doing?’ Keith asked excitedly, twisting in the armchair again. 

 

Lance snorted at the tv. ‘They’re having a competition to see who can cook the best food.’

 

‘He’s cutting all the skin off the fish.’

 

‘Well yeah, they want the soft meat underneath,’ Lance replied, sitting on the couch seat closest to Keith and putting his coffee mug on the table. 

 

‘What a waste. They’re only eating a little bit of it,’ Keith said, wrinkling his nose. ‘My pod leader would have my fins if I wasted that much.’

 

‘Look this is pretty crappy tv. Why don’t I put on a movie?’ Lance suggested, getting to his feet. ‘Does  _ The Little Mermaid _ sound okay?’

 

‘Yes!’ Keith declared, pulling his blanket up to his chin. Lance put the dvd in the player and settled down as the familiar Disney castle lit up the room. 

 

It was just as hard for Keith to not talk and ask questions as it was for Lance to not sing along. 

 

‘How did they get in the tv?’ Keith whispered. ‘Can they hear me?’

 

‘No Keith.’

 

‘How did Triton attract a matriarch with a boring blue tail like that?’

 

‘I don’t know Keith.’

 

‘Lance did the Sea Witch just take Ariel’s voice? How did she do that?’

 

‘With magic,’ Lance explained. Keith gripped his blanket as he watched the film, eyes wide with wonder. Lance took a few photos and sent them through to Hunk, who was upset at missing Keith’s first movie experience. 

 

‘Lance I don’t want Ariel to turn into a seaweed,’ Keith mumbled quietly. ‘How can she trick the Sea Witch if she can’t talk to the prince?’

 

‘Don’t worry buddy, it’ll turn out okay,’ Lance assured him, getting up to make snacks. 

 

‘So Ariel got her voice back, got to keep her weird human legs and she stayed on land?’ Keith confirmed, picking a sour worm out of the bowl with a concerned expression. 

 

‘Pretty much,’ Lance said, shoving a few of them in his mouth at once. 

 

‘Well that’s silly. I mean, it’s fun up here and stuff, but I couldn’t stay here. The ocean is my home. Also, merfolk are nothing like that. I want you to tell the person who did this television movie that they got us entirely wrong,’ Keith demanded, dropping the worm back in the bowl in favour of chips instead. 

 

Lance laughed. ‘Sure thing, man. I’ll do that for you.’

 

‘Why did Ariel stay on land?’ Keith asked, leaning over the side of the armchair. 

 

‘Because she was in love with the prince. Sometimes home is where the person you love is,’ Lance explained. 

 

‘Have you ever been in love?’ Keith asked with a curious expression. 

 

‘Of course!’ Lance grinned. ‘I have Hunk, he’s my person.’

 

‘Hunk is your mate?’

 

‘Yeah, we’ve been together for like five years now,’ Lance said, popping another dvd into the player. 

 

‘So home for you is wherever Hunk is?’ Keith asked, leaning his chin on his hand. 

 

‘Well, yeah, I guess it is,’ Lance smiled. ‘How does it work in your pod? Do you have a mate?’

 

‘Me? No. Females choose their mates, depending on how they defend the pod, and also how attractive they are,’ Keith replied, pulling his blanket back to reveal his tail. 

 

Lance had almost forgotten how stunning it was. 

 

‘For example, I have an unusual tail colouring, which would usually give me a higher standing, but I’m young, and now my tail has this awful scar,’ he continued. 

 

‘I never noticed that you had stripes,’ Lance said, kneeling beside the chair and examining the scales closer. 

 

‘Stripes are good,’ Keith said with a proud smile. ‘No one else in my pod has them.’

 

‘That’s cool,’ Lance agreed. ‘I hope your chances of finding a mate aren’t ruined.’

 

Keith traced the stitches with his finger, and gave a little shrug.

 

‘ _ Are you touching your stitches _ ?’ came Hunk’s strained voice from the doorway. 

 

Lance leapt away from Keith, and shot his boyfriend an award winning grin. 

 

‘ _ Babe _ ! Welcome home!’

 

‘Don’t you babe me,’ Hunk grumbled. ‘If I have to restitch them, there’ll be hell to pay.’

 

‘The stitches are fine!’ Keith piped up, pulling the blanket back over his tail. ‘I watched a movie!’

 

‘So I heard,’ Hunk replied with a smile, leaning over to kiss Lance in greeting. ‘Now, let’s have a look at this war wound.’

 

#

 

‘Just point and click man, it’s easy,’ Lance explained, and Keith nodded with a little frown, examining his reflection on Lance’s forward-facing camera. 

 

Hunk was in the kitchen cooking up dinner, and Lance was in the process of patting Keith’s tail down with a wet cloth to keep it from getting dried out - avoiding the stitches at all costs, of course. To stop Keith from wriggling around, he had put on a documentary on African animals, and also taught him how to take selfies as an extra measure. He looked ridiculous with his fluffy hair sticking up in all directions and one of Hunk’s baggy jumpers hanging off his tiny frame. 

 

A knock on the door had them all freeze, and Lance darted over there with a curious expression.

 

‘Allura?’ 

 

‘Hey, I thought I’d come by and see how our injured friend is going!’ Allura said with a smile. She had a bag under one arm and  _ a kitten under the other _ . 

 

‘Allura take a selfie with me!’ Keith demanded when he saw her. 

 

‘Sure, but I brought you a present first,’ Allura said, dropping the kitten on his lap. Keith completely froze, staring down at the fluffy creature. It blinked it’s yellow eyes at him and sniffed him curiously. 

 

‘What is this?’

 

‘It’s a baby cat. She won’t hurt you, give her a pat,’ Allura reassured, putting her bag on the coffee table. 

 

Lance sat on the floor with his legs crossed, crooning at the kitten. 

 

‘It’s making a buzzing noise…’ Keith said, poking its head with a finger. The kitten nudged his hand sweetly. 

 

‘She’s purring, Keith. It’s a happy noise,’ Lance explained. ‘Allura what’s in here?’

 

‘Cluedo. I thought it might be fun to teach Keith a human game,’ she replied brightly, sitting on the couch. 

 

Keith leaned forward curiously as she pulled the box out, and Lance stole the kitten from his lap. 

 

‘What do you do?’

 

‘The aim is to find out who killed the victim,’ Allura began. She explained the game in as much detail as she could, and Keith nodded along even though it seemed like he honestly had no idea what was going on. 

 

‘Come down here Keith, you can be on my team,’ Lance said, shuffling aside. Hunk helped Keith slide down from the armchair and the mermaid shuffled awkwardly to sit beside him, curling his tail around himself. 

 

‘What are these lines?’ Keith asked, pointing at the cards. 

 

‘Uh, words,’ Lance explained. ‘You can’t read, okay that makes sense.’

 

‘We should have thought of that,’ Hunk said, running his hand across his chin. 

 

‘Don’t worry Keith, it’ll be fun anyway, okay?’ Allura promised. ‘Now, which piece do you want to be?’

 

Keith immediately snatched up the purple piece for himself and Lance, and placed it on the purple square like Allura told him to. Even though he had no idea what he was doing, Keith seemed to be enjoying himself. In the end, with Lance’s help, he was able to deduce that ‘this guy’ had been killed ‘here’ with ‘whatever that is’. 

 

Keith had demanded they play an extra few rounds, so he could get the hang of playing properly. Lance left to start making them all dinner and the game dissolved into chatter. 

 

‘Hey Lance?’ Hunk called, and Lance headed into the living room. 

 

Keith was beaming, still sitting on the floor. They had packed up the game, and there was a notepad on the table instead. 

 

‘I wrote my name,’ Keith said proudly, holding up the paper to show some scribbly letters. 

 

‘That’s amazing!’ Lance said with a grin. 

 

Keith spent the rest of the night practicing letters that he didn’t fully understand, and Hunk had to force him to put the pen down and get some sleep. 

 

#

 

Keith was stretched out on the floor, sunning himself in the morning sunshine that came through the windows. Allura’s kitten was curled up on his chest, also enjoying the morning sun. 

 

‘I don’t want to,’ Lance whispered with a pout. He was in the kitchen with Hunk, who was leaning against the counter. 

 

‘Well, I think it’s completely healed, we have to get him back in the ocean,’ Hunk replied, also whispering. 

 

‘But I like having Keith around. He’s a part of the family, Hunk,’ Lance moaned, and Hunk pulled him into a big bear hug. 

 

‘I know, but he’s gotta go back home,’ Hunk said warmly, rubbing soothing circles on Lance’s back. ‘Especially since it’s getting colder, and we don’t want his pod to leave without him.’

 

The two of them walked into the lounge hand in hand. Keith cracked open an eye lazily. 

 

‘Hey guys,’ he said, petting the kitten. ‘What’s up?’

 

‘We think your stitches are healed up enough for you to go home, Keith,’ Hunk explained, sitting on the couch. Keith sat up quickly, disrupting the cat. 

 

‘Really?’ he said, his eyes lighting up. ‘Will I be able to swim?’

 

‘I think you’ll be fine, we just don’t want your pod to leave without you is all,’ Hunk said. 

 

Keith’s expression looked like he hadn’t considered that. 

 

‘We need to do it later tonight, in the dark,’ Lance said quietly. ‘We’ll call Allura too so she can come and say goodbye.’

 

‘So this is my last day here?’ Keith asked, curling his tail around him. 

 

‘Yeah, is there anything you want to do?’ Hunk asked. ‘We’re both off work.’

 

‘Can we watch The Little Mermaid again?’ Keith asked in a small voice. 

 

‘Yes! We’ll have a big Disney day!’ Lance declared in a loud, happy voice. 

 

Allura came over halfway through watching The Lion King with a box of doughnuts to share. 

 

When the sun went down, the Hunk lifted Keith carefully and carried him into the elevator, followed by Lance and Allura. The drive to the marina was silent, and they kept conversation minimal as they carried Keith to the boat. 

 

‘Can you hear that?’ Keith asked excitedly, leaning over the edge of the boat as they sped through the reef. 

 

‘Hear what?’ Hunk asked, but Keith ignored him, instead letting out an odd keening sound. Over the hum of the motor, the humans could just hear a similar reply. 

 

‘It’s Shiro!’ Keith cooed. ‘They didn’t leave without me!’

 

Lance cut the engine, and Keith wriggled with excitement as the boat bobbed on the waves. A head broke the surface - another male with a tuft of white hair and a nasty scar across his nose. 

 

‘Keith?’

 

‘Shiro! I’m here!’ Keith called. ‘It’s okay, these humans won’t hurt you.’

 

Shiro tentatively swam closer. ‘Where have you been? We’ve been ready to leave for two days now.’

 

‘I cut my tail, and these humans helped me fix it. This is Lance and Hunk and Allura,’ Keith said, pointing out each one. Allura waved while the others simply smiled reassuringly. 

 

‘Well, thank you for helping, but Keith needs to come back to his pod now,’ Shiro said. 

 

Allura hugged Keith tight, followed by Hunk and Lance. 

 

‘Don’t worry, I’ll come back and see you next season,’ Keith promised. 

 

Together they lifted him over the side of the boat and watched his bright red tail disappear under the waves. 

 

Hunk cried for a decent portion of the boat ride home. 

 

#

 

Summer was back, and the tourists were trickling into town. 

 

Lance slipped on his sunnies and breathed in deep, taking in the familiar scent of the ocean. The sun was bright and it made the water glitter in that way that made his heart soar. 

 

His first tour for the season was a young family. Lance helped the children fasten their life jackets, and then they were zipping across the bay and out to the reef. 

 

‘Look out for sharks,’ Lance said with a wink. The children were as close to the glass as possible without touching it. 

 

‘I can see a mermaid!’

 

Lance turned so fast his neck cracked. 

 

Swimming carefully under the boat was indeed a mermaid, grinning up at him. Lance cut the motor and Keith vanished, only to break the surface a moment later. The children scampered to the edge of the boat, and Keith handed them a pretty shell from the bottom. 

 

Lance winked at him, and Keith vanished beneath the waves. 

 

Lance’s tours were the only tours where the mermaids showed up. 

 

Sometimes it was Shiro, with his large, grey spotted tail, and sometimes a little female with a lovely moss green tail came along, but Keith was always there. Every time. 

 

Sometimes Lance brought Hunk. Sometimes Allura tagged along too.

 

When business was slow (which it rarely was these days), Lance and Hunk would jump into the ocean with them. 

 

‘Can you have two homes?’ Keith asked one day, drifting lazily in the waves. 

 

‘I guess?’ Hunk said while Lance showed off his backstroke. ‘Why?’

 

‘Because I’m home with my pod, but I think I’m home with you guys too,’ Keith said. ‘I missed you while we were gone. I missed the tv. And the couch.’

 

‘We can be your holiday home, Keith,’ Lance said with a grin. 

 

Keith grinned in response.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is super old, my writing has improved so much omg.  
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
